Scientists say comet caused Ice Age 12,000 years ago

Scientists have found evidence indicating that pieces of a giant comet collided with the Earth approximately 12, 800 years ago, setting many areas of our planet ablaze, causing a new Ice Age and leading many species to extinction.

The theory is not new: scientists had imagined this scenario, but only now found evidence to support it. The most curious thing is that the event occurred shortly after another Ice Age, that is, it was followed by another.

Impact around the world

Two studies published in The Journal of Geology - "The Journal of Geology, " a US publication that has published research on the subject since 1893 - describe that samples taken from ice and sediment support impact-driven climate change, a period known as 'recent Dryas'.

According to the researchers, analyzes of the samples, formed at the time of impacts and taken from dozens of places around the world, suggest that the gigantic fires that formed eventually created a cloud in the sky that blocked the sun, leading to an era of ice that lasted about a thousand years.

The theory indicates that the responsible was a large fragmented comet and the pieces, which impacted the earth causing the disaster. A variety of “chemical signatures” - carbon dioxide, nitrate, ammonia, among others - indicate that no less than 10% of the earth's land area has been consumed by fire.

Great destructive power

This theory may also solve a mystery: the mass extinction of some mammals living in North America, including saber-toothed tigers, mammoths, giant sloths, and mastodons 11, 000 years ago.

According to scientists, the comet was originally 100 km in diameter and what remains is still orbiting the Solar System. In addition, the calculations suggest that the impact would have seriously affected the ozone layer, increasing the risk of skin cancer and other negative health effects.